1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus which includes a flexible flat cable on which a driving IC chip is mounted, and a method for producing the recording apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2004-98465 (FIGS. 6 and 7), a recording apparatus is described which includes a head-substrate and a body-substrate arranged inside an apparatus casing, a flexible flat cable which connects this body-substrate and the head-substrate, a recording head, a carriage on which the recording head is mounted and which performs scanning, another flexible cable which connects the recording head and the head-substrate, and a driver IC which outputs a drive pulse signal to these flexible flat cables.
When recording elements to be mounted on the recording head are arranged highly densely, it is necessary to make fine pattern wirings which are formed on the flexible flat cable connected to the recording head, and there is an increase a resistance of the pattern wiring. Therefore, the driving IC chip is mounted on the flexible flat cable such that the driving IC chip is positioned as close as possible to the recording head.
Moreover, when a plurality of recording elements is driven almost simultaneously, there is a fear of a voltage drop. Therefore, a condenser is arranged in a head-side circuit substrate on the carriage to compensate a voltage. However, since it is necessary to increase kinds of drive pulse signals for the recording head in order to realize a multi-gradation printing or the like, a control of the apparatus becomes diversified. Then the pattern wiring, which connects the driving IC chip and the head-side circuit substrate, also becomes minute (fine), and the IC chip may perform a malfunction due to an inductance component and a resistance component of the wiring pattern.
Furthermore, when a piezoelectric actuator is used as an actuator of the recording head, a piezoelectric material may be subjected to a polarization process with the flexible flat cable connected to the actuator. When the piezoelectric material is heated and cooled (returned to a room temperature), electric charges are generated in the piezoelectric material, and these electric charges may damage the circuit.
On the other hand, since the driving IC chip generates heat during a recording operation, the flexible flat cable is to be drawn around such that the driving IC chip and the heat sink are in a close contact.
Consequently, when the circuit element mentioned above is arranged near the driving IC chip of the flexible flat cable, there is a fear that the circuit element may contact with the heat sink. Due to the contact between the circuit element and the heat sink, the close contact between the driving IC chip and the heat sink may be inhibited, and there is a fear that the driving IC chip does not release the heat sufficiently.